Adam Koebel’s Office Hours: An Index of Questions Asked

Office Hours is a weekly rollplaying Q&A show hosted by Adam Koebel. Adam is an author/co-designed of the game Dungeon World, and the resident Dungeon Master for both Roll20.net and RollPlay. The complete playlist can be viewed on YouTube here, or via the Twitch VoD’s for subscribers.

What is an enjoyable and constructive way to handle mind manipulation or control powers in an RPG?

How can I run a campaign where not everyone shows up every week?

I’ve played a lot of RPGs, but I’ve noticed a lot of my characters end up just being “The Guy With The BLANK” or “The Person Who Does THING”. Do you have any tips to create characters with more complex histories and personalities?

How can I keep track of NPC’s in a game with mechanically complex characters?

How do we get players interested in the adversaries of our campaigns?

What tips do you have for low-prep GMing? Some systems help more than others with NPC lists and such, but what general tricks and tools do you find yourself using the most, both for prep and at the table?

When building a story, how much do you plan out your stories and how do you try to balance more spontaneous, shorter-term, stories inspired by players and their actions with longer-term, overarching stories that you built yourself?

After getting the idea for Dungeon World, how did you “make it happen”? What were the steps to it becoming a real thing that people could buy and play?

How do you end a campaign in a way that’s satisfying for everyone – especially one that’s been going on for a significant amount of time? Is it better to wrap things up neatly, or leave it more open-ended?

The Fear, Complicated Results, and Characters in Positions of Authority

How does an aspiring GM get past the initial barrier of fear and inexperience that is often inherent with running one’s very first game, and how can they utilize the experience best to grow as a GM?

How can I use the advantage/threat, triumph/despair mechanics in Age of Rebellion to create interesting levels of success and failure, as well as other games with varying levels of success and failure?

How do you handle games in which the PCs are in a position of significant authority? How do you keep that situation interesting?

Something I’ve noticed you do is frame a lot of your descriptions of the world like a movie. What do you thing the advantages are? Would you recommend it to other GM’s?

I want to get better at impromptu, evocative, genre-reinforcing language. I know that consuming a bunch of media of any genre is going to help you think in that genre, but even then, are there better or worse ways of consuming? Or are there other avenues I should be pursuing to get better as this sort of thing?

What is the best way to switch a game from a system that isn’t delivering on the player’s expectations to a new one? And is it worth trying to port the established fiction over?

How do I better encourage my players to challenge their characters over a narrative arc?

Can players be challenged in ways where success is either impossible or highly unlikely while remaining fair and fun for everyone? Is there a good way to use these sorts of unwinnable or extremely difficult situations, but not have it feel cheap for the players?

How do you balance the “here’s what the game is about” urgency with the “let’s just explore the setting for a while” impulse? How tight/urgent does the situation need to be? Does it change with time? Are there russian stacking dolls of situations within situations?

What are the specifics of running a Burning Wheel campaign with only one or two players?

Burning wheel is a game driven by characters and their beliefs. How can I get a bunch of people who have never met each other to create a world and narrative together?

How do I engage a character that I find to be uninteresting or flat in a way that is enjoyable for everyone involved?

How do you deal with ever-increasing levels of complexity as PCs add to the same as they level up and gain strength? And do you have any advice on handling a self-confessed game theorist from thwarting the challenges I’m setting for the party, given this PC’s ever-increasing magic power curve?

Do you have any tips on running Science Fiction games to keep the maintenance lower, or suggestions on particular games to try?

How can we explore short-form narratives in an existing campaign world while sticking to the precepts of free will and action in an RPG? Additionally, how can this process foster new players joining our game?

What’s the main difference in leading a game online, from leading a game at a table?

How do you make giving your players the freedom to wander around less stressful without having to spend hours and hours preparing?

What makes a system fun and interesting to you, Adam?

Looking from game to game, it appears that many of them use different types of systems to determine random results. How do I know what type of dice system most benefits the type of game I want to play?

In games that present themselves as being pure popcorn entertainment (D&D), how do I introduce thematic question to my players in ways that won’t make them roll their eyes?

How can I deal with/avoid GM Fatigues?

How do you handle situation where a player comes up with modifications to their weapons or other things which have specific balance rules set up around them, without being too unreasonable and saying the character just wouldn’t know how to do that?

What are some ways I can give my players incentive to act on the knowledge their characters have rather than the knowledge that they as players have.

I want to give my runs more teeth, but I fear being too brutal.Should I exercise restraint or is there a way I can have a slightly meaner setting while still being fair and ensure my players have fun?

How should I be handling looking for friends and players in LFG’s? How much time should I devote to the process? Do you have advice for those seeking groups to join, to help the process so we can move past assembling a group to actually playing the game with confidence that the group will endure?

What are some good ways to handle time sensitive missions for players? How do you track the passing of time in a fair way? How do the actions of the player’s influence it’s passing?

Is there room for love at the roleplaying table?

How can I better incorporate themes in my running campaigns? Are these things that spark on play organically? How can I detect them and bring them to the spotlight? How can I introduce themes more consciously on my games?

How do I as a GM help create situations that put narrative pressure on my characters and help the players develop them in interesting ways?

Is it possible to read and potentially DM published adventures AND play in the same adventures as run by other DMs? And if so, how do I do that?

Is it possible to facilitate or engineer the generation of the same feelingsof those “random moments of glory” when a player makes a critical roll at the perfect moment beyond the provision of a perilous situation and, if not, what should a GM do to enhance the enjoyment of those moments?

Is it possible, in your mind, to play a game that has races with immutable or essential characteristics and not reproduce psychological or social structures of racism? Can you use racism as a structuring device in your world-building and role-playing without sliding into essentialism? Relatedly, how do you as a GM manage player racism at the table?

Do you have any tips for dealing with romance (between PCs or a PC and an NPC) in RPGs?

How do I deal with a player that tends to over-describe a situation, or re-describe what I’ve already laid out? It this my problem, the players’ problem, or a group problem? What angle should I approach this from?

Lackey, Toadie, Hireling, Goon, Hacking the Interpersonal, and Fated to Love You

[How can I handle my players either starting in or achieving a position of power which allows them to send NPC’s in their place?]

How would you go about implementing a character mechanic like Hx form Apocalypse World into a game that wasn’t designed for that, like 5th edition?

In your RPG chat, you mentioned that you really liked Fate Accelerated, and I was wondering if you could elaborate on that a bit. As a fan of both Fate and Dungeon World, I’m curious about a game designers perspective.

Intriguing Developments, Pushing it Real Good, and Building the Unappreciated

How do I craft intrigue, and how do I adopt these intrigues when the players react in unexpected ways?

How do you know how far yo push and when to stop pushing a character, despite the player saying they’re okay with it?

When I prepare a session, I always think of all these cool explanations for what is happening in a particular place… The players almost never find out the hidden story. What am I doing wrong? Do you have any tips?

How can I work around the long intervals between game sessions to create an engaging rollplaying experience, and how can I GM one-shots and other stories with more-or-less complete plot arcs within a limited amount of time such that session will be enjoyable?

Am I in the wrong for wanting death to mean something? Or should I just bend to my players want and use death as an adventure hook?

How do you resolve elements of the parties backstories without dragging out the game?

Why I Should Listen to You, My Campaign is Boring, and Twisting the Knife

[Is it wrong to ignore advice given to me and create my own ideas and methods for solving problems, or would it be better for me to get all the advice I possibly could from someone with experience with problems similar to my own?]

How do you make a campaign interesting that is based around a boring concept, like space trucking?

Above and Beyond, A Change in Authority, and Too Much Love in the Club

What things can I do, if I have extra energy left beyond minimally required prep to level a gaming session from “cool” to “still being talked about years later”?

My question is about shifting GM authority over the course of a campaign.. How do you manage these sorts of shifts in authority in a campaign? Is abdicating as GM in favour of a more anarchic play environment ever a good idea?

I am starting a D&D club at my school and a lot of people want to play. My question is how would you go about splitting up a large group of people, and how would you explain why you have to do so?